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The primary teachers' union will
tell its members it is all right to touch children to comfort or praise them,
in a major shift in its advice about physical contact. The New Zealand Educational
Institute, which represents staff at primary schools, early childcare centres
and special education centres, will launch its new guidelines on physical
contact at its annual conference in Wellington today. The guidelines encourage
"positive and affirming" contact to provide emotional support or to
praise a child. The guidelines are more liberal
than the 1998 code, which was introduced following widespread community
concern after Peter Ellis was convicted for sexually abusing children at the
Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre. The 1998 code warned touching
could be misconstrued and placed staff at the risk of assault or indecency
allegations. It said staff and teachers should explain to children why a
teacher withdrew from them. In contrast, the new document
notes contact is important to build a caring community and says staff who
withdraw or are guarded in interacting with students "may not be acting
as positive role models". The code says teachers must use
common sense, but touching was acceptable when "carried out in a
professional and responsible manner that is age appropriate". Examples of appropriate touching
included "hugging or placing a supportive arm across a child's shoulders
but only when and where needed". The union began revising its guide
in 2003 after research by Auckland University professor of education Alison
Jones showed the anti-touching policy was causing anxiety for teachers. NZEI chairwoman Irene Cooper said
staff still needed to be mindful that they did not put themselves at risk of
allegations, but the new guidelines better reflected the realities of the
school community. The old code was a response to the
high level of anxiety in the community in the 1990s. "Thankfully, most of the
community have learned some lessons from what happened at that time." She said it was important for
schools and centres to develop specific policies about physical contact,
after asking parents from the various cultures at a school what they
considered appropriate. The guidelines say school policies
should include ways to protect staff from untrue allegations. They advise
enlisting witnesses to any physical contact when possible and for rooms to
have high visibility, such as with windows. Yesterday, Professor Jones welcomed
the new guidelines. "The old code of conduct
really turned all teachers into potential paedophiles and just reinforced
social anxieties. This does not do that, so I'm delighted at the shift."
School Trustees Association head
Chris Haines expected schools to consult on the guidelines and said if
parents liked it, schools should go ahead. "There has always got to be
protection for children, but sometimes we have got tied up with some of this
PC stuff. "It is unfortunate that there
were high-profile cases which saw everyone withdraw from things which can be
quite a natural part of teaching." The guidelines cover all 45,000
members of NZEI, including teachers, principals, support staff and special
education workers. Men avoided 'hysteria' An early-childhood education
advocate says "the paedophile hysteria" of the 1990s is the reason
just 1 per cent of early education workers are male. Early Childhood Council chief
executive Sue Thorne said the shortage of men working in the sector was a
"national disgrace" and New Zealand compared badly with other
well-developed countries. Her comments follow the release of
a paper by researcher Sarah Farquhar, who said a 1 per cent male workforce
made early childhood education the "pinkest" in New Zealand -
compared with nursing which was 6.5 per cent male and flight attendants, 33
per cent of whom are male. Men at Work: Sexism in Early
Childhood Education calls for a debate on the need for men in the sector and
says initiatives such as publicity campaigns and higher teacher salaries had
not attracted men to the sector. Ms Thorne said men no longer felt
welcome in childcare because they feared they would be treated with
suspicion. A concerted effort was needed to get more men into the workforce. Tau Henare, National's spokesman
on early childhood education, said the best way for boys to develop learning
skills was from men. |
